Cigarette machine cutoff mechanism



March 6, 1956 J. w. GEIER IGARETTE MACHINE CUTOFF MECHANISM 2Sheets-$heet 1 Filed April 5, 1952 INVENTOR JOHN W. GEIER BY Q W4ATTORNEY March 6, 1956 J. W. GEIER 2,737,217

CIGARETTE MACHINE CUTOF F MECHANISM Filed April 3, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2FlG.6

INVENTOR JOHN w. GEIER BY v I Q N United Stres Patent QIGARETTE MACHINECUTOFF MECHANISM John W. Geier, St. Albans, N. Y., assignor to AmericanMachine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application April3, 1952, Serial No. 280,430 13 Claims. (Cl. 146-101) This inventionrelates to cigarette cut-off mechanism and more particularly to a devicefor severing a cigarette rod into se'gments of predetermined length.

"There have been numerous cigarette cut-off developmer ts in thecigarette machine art. As the cigarette machine art has developed, themachinespeed has also increased until now cigarette machines operate atfrom 120010 ISOOcigarettes per minute.

"(Cigarette cut-offs used at this rate of operation have Ofitin been ofrather intricate design. Where cut-off of simpler design have been usedthey have caused the formation of collars or dented ends on thecigarette, due fro-the knife and cigarette rod crowding on each otherduring the cutting operation. Another disadvantage of such structure hasbeen that they do not stand up satisfactorily in the field.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a cut-,ofi whichwill be both of simple design and durable construction.

' Another object of this invention is to provide a cut-off which willutilize a pair of parallel springs for maintaining a cut-off housinghorizontal by means of a stem projecting from the housing through abearing supported by said springs.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spring support'for theledger wherein the springs and the elements supported thereby will havea natural frequency close to the operating frequency of the cut-off.

' Another object of this invention is to provide a simpl'ified knifesupport which permits the cutting knife to be quickly removed andreplaced.

" Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the'description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustratethe invention progresses. In the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this specification, like characters of reference have beenapplied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which makeup the drawings.

m Figure 1 is a side elevation of a three crank type cutoff inconjunction with a spring mounted guiding and aligning device, taken online 11 of Figure 2. e

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same, partly in section, taken online 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the same, taken on line 3 3 of Figure 2.

V Figure 4 is a front elevation of a modified spring mounted guiding andaligning device.

f Figure 5 is a sectional plan view of the same, taken on line 5 5 ofFigure 4.

Figure 6 is a side elevation of another modified form of a springmounted guiding and aligning device, wherein thestern slides in thecut-off housing.

With reference to the drawings, the cut-off illustrated is animprovement over the type cut-off as disclosed in the 'co-pendingapplication of Paul Slysh, Serial 'No. 247,911, filed September 24,1951, now Patent No. 2,711,764, issued June 28, 1955. In the presentcut-01f there is an improved guiding and aligning device which assuresthat the cut-off knife housing remains parallel with the cigarette rodat all times and an improved device for imparting motion to the ledgers66.

. The crank type cut-off shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 consists of aknife housing 10 which carries a knife shaft 12 to which, by means of aholder 14, is attached a knife 16. Knife housing 10 is mounted on acrank pin 18 (Figs. 2 and 3) which moves in a circular path about acrank shaft 20 as indicated by the arrow A in Figure 2.

Crank pin 18 at each end is secured to a crank 22 and 24 respectively,the latter being integral with a shaft 26 while the former is secured tocrank shaft 29. Shaft 26 is supported in suitable bearings of a housing28 while shaft 26 is supported by a bearing bracket 30 attached to andsuspended from housing 28 to keep both shafts in perfect alignment.

In order to properly balance the knife housing 10 both cranks 22 and 24are provided with suitable counterweights 32 and 34 respectively.Housing 28 is secured to a suitable cut-off supporting member 36 whichprojects upward from the bed or main frame (not shown) of the cigarettemachine. 1 To crank shaft20 within housing 23 is secured a bevel gear 38(Fig. 3') which is continuously rotated by means of a bevel gear 40 alsowithin housing 28 mounted on a vertical shaft 42 connected to and drivenfrom the main drive (not shown) of the cigarette machine. To crank pin18 which, as mentioned above, is secured to cranks 22 and 24, is mounteda hypoid gear 44 which meshes with a hypoid gear 46 mounted on the knifeshaft 12. This provides rotary motion to the latter as well as the knife16 carried by the same.

The bottom portion of knife housing 10 is provided with a hub 48 (Fig.2) to which is secured and from which projects vertically downward aguide rod or stem 50 which at its lower free end slidingly engages witha sleeve bearing member 52 which by means of a pair of projecting cars54 is secured between the upper free ends of a pair of parallelledspaced long vertical leaf springs 56 the lower ends of which are rigidlysecured to a suitable bracket 58 mounted to the main frame of themachine.

The leaf springs 56, bearing member 52, and the ledger plate 66, andholders 64 are of such thickness, width, and length design that theassembly has a natural frequency close to the operating frequency of thecut-off. This has been found to reduce to a minimum the side forcesacting on the bearing.

It will be appreciated that the purpose of the guide rod 50 is toprevent the housing 10 from rotating on its own axis, while allowing thehousing to have circulatory or translatory movement in a predeterminedpath. T herefore, the rod 50 does not necessarily have to be vertical asshown but could also be arranged horizontally or at any other anglewhich is desirable to adapt it to the cigarette machine ,on which thisdevice is to be used.

One of the cars 54 of the guide sleeve member 52 is provided with asuitable lug 60 (Fig. 2) from which projects a horizontal pin 62 to thefree end of which is secured a ledger plate holder 64 which carries theconventional ledger plates 66 between which the knife 16 passes whensevering the individual cigarettes C from the continuous rod R guided tosaid plates by means of a conventional stationary guide sleeve 68.

The guide stem 50 projecting downward from the knife .housing 10 remainsin sliding engagement with the guide sleeve member 52 while the knifehousing 10 follows a circular path about the crank shaft 20. Since saidguide sleeve also carries the ledger plates 66 through which passes thecontinuous cigarette rod R, the knife housing 10 always remains parallelto the cigarette rod and the knife 16 always remains in a degree anglein relation to the same.

The springs 56 permit the guide sleeve member 52 to oscillate in ahorizontal plane corresponding to the horizontal component of the knifehousing movement. The length of the springs are such that the arc inwhich the sleeve member 52 is reciprocated has such a large radius thata vertical movement of said member 52 is practically non-existent. Thegreat advantage of such arrangement is that the ledger plates beingpractically a part of said sleeve member 52 receive reciprocating motioncorre sponding to the motion of the knife and thus assuring perfectalignment and a square cut of the cigarette rod at all times. In orderto prevent loss of lubrication and also to prevent foreign matter suchas dust and grit from entering the bearing of the sleeve member 52 aprotection accordion pleated booth or cover 70 (Fig. 2) is provided andsuitably attached between the upper end of stem 50 and the upper end ofsleeve member 52.

As may be well realized the initial installing and consequently thealigning of the stem 50 projecting from the knife housing It) with thesleeve member 52 requires the greatest of accuracy especially itslateral alignment.

To overcome this difiiculty, the stem 50, projecting from the knifehousing 10, may at its lowermost end be provided with a square orrectangular extension 72 as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. Saidextension 72 of course is integral with the stem 50 and engages with aparallel slot 74 of a suitably made guide member 76 which is substitutedfor the guide sleeve 52 shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3.

Guide member 76, like sleeve 52, is provided with ears 78 by means ofwhich said member is attached to the upper free ends of the two parallelspaced vertical springs 56. One of the cars 78 is also provided with alug 8b which carries a horizontal pin 82 to which the ledger plate isfastened.

A modified form of the guiding and aligning means for the knife housingis illustrated in Figure 6. In this form the stem 50 does not projectfrom the bottom of the knife housing but instead the bottom end of saidstem is rigidly secured in the guide member 84 while the upper free endof said vertical stem slidingly engages with the knife housing 10. Theguide member 84 in this case also carries the ledger plate holder and ismounted to the upper free ends of the two parallel spaced verticalsprings 56. As mentioned hereinbefore the stem can be arranged eithervertically, horizontally, or at any angle desired to accomplish itspurpose.

The knife 16 (Figs. 1, 2, and 3) is mounted between a pair of supportingplates 90 forming a complete assembly which is provided with arectangular longitudinal slot 92 one end of which engages with a slantedgroove in a head 94 of a spindle 96 which is rotatably supported in apair of spaced lugs of the knife holder 14. The other end of slot 92engages with a slanted groove of member 98 which is rotatably attachedto a threaded supporting sleeve 160 engaging with the threaded free endof spindle 96.

A threaded lock ring 102 also carried by the threaded end of spindle 96is employed for the purpose of keeping the threaded supporting sleeve100 and therefore the member 98 which supports the knife assembly inproper place during operation. The knife assembly can easily be removedfor replacement by loosening lock ring 102 and then backing up thethreaded supporting sleeve 100 until the end of the slot 92 of the knifeassembly disengages from the slanted slot of member 98. The other end ofsaid knife assembly slot can then easily be lifted out of the slantedgroove of head 94 of the spindle.

in replacing the knife assembly one end of the slot is placed inengagement with the groove in head 94 and the threaded sleeve 100 isadvanced on spindle 96 until the groove in member 98 engages snugly withthe other end of slot 92 of the knife assembly after which the lock ring102 is brought in contact with the shoulder of the threaded sleeve toprevent banking of the same during operation.

In order to take care of the wear of the knife and permit adjusting ofthe same, a knurled threaded sleeve or nut 104 (Figures 1, 2, and 3)surrounding the threaded portion of the spindle 96 which carries theknife assembly may be turned clock or anti-clockwise to effect propersetting of the same. A sleeve 1G6 loosely surrounding the spindle isprovided as a spacer and a tension spring 108 prevents the knurled unit104 from turning or wandering during cut-off operation.

The invention hereinbefore described may be varied in constructionwithin the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected toillustrate the invention is but one of many possible embodiments of thesame. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the precisedetails of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

1. A cut-off mechanism for a cigarette making machine comprising, ahousing, a rotary knife supporting shaft extending from said housing, acut-off knife mounted transversely on said knife supporting shaft, adrive for moving said housing in a translatory path of travel, drivingmeans interconnected with said knife supporting shaft for impartingrotary movement thereto when said housing is moved in a translatory pathof travel, a pair of flat springs for maintaining said housing free fromrotary movement, means interconnecting one end of said springs to astationary part of a cigarette making machine,,a stem connected to theopposite end of said flat spring and extending through suitable bearingsformed insaid housing to allow said housing to move in a translatorypath of travel while maintaining said housing free from rotary movement.

2. A cigarette machine cut-off comprising, a cut-off knife for passingthrough a travelling cigarette rod at predetermined intervals, a spindlesupporting said knife, a stem connected with the spindle and slideablerelative thereto for maintaining said spindle and said stem at aconstant relationship to one another, a pair of leaf springs connectedat one end to a fixed portion of the cigarette making machine, and meansinterconnecting the other end of said springs to said stem to maintainthe axis of said spindle in a predetermined angular relationship to thecigarette rod.

3. A cut-off housing, means for moving said cut-ofi housing in atranslatory path of travel, a shaft mounted in said cut-off housing, adrive driven from said means for rotating said shaft While said cut-oflhousing moves in a circular path of travel, a stern extending verticallyfrom said cut-off housing for maintaining said cut-ofi housing and theshaft supported therein free from rotation with respect to the meanswhich moves the housing in a circular path of travel, a bearing in whichsaid stem reciprocates, and a pair of parallel springs connected at oneend to said bearing and at the other end to a stationary sup port formaintaining said bearing vertical at all times while allowing saidbearing to have free lateral movement.

4. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a housing, driving means forimparting translatory movement to said housing, a knife shaft supportedin said housing, means imparting rotary movement to said shaft from saiddriving means, a knife mounted transversely on the end of said shaft, astem fixedly connected to said housing and extending outwardlytherefrom, a pair of parallel spaced leaf springs fixedly connected atone end to a stationary part of the cigarette making machine, and a stemreceiving bearing connected at opposite sides to the other end of eachof said leaf springs for maintaining said stem and housing free fromrotation with respect to said driving means.

5. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a pair of spaced leaf springsconnected at one end to a stationary part of the cigarette makingmachine, a shaft receiving bearing connected at the other end of saidleaf springs,

a knife supporting shaft, a housing supporting said knife supportingshaft, an actuating device for moving said housing in a translatorypath, and an elongated member extending outwardly from said housing andengaging with said shaft receiving bearing at its far end for preventingsaid housing from rotating While moving in said translatory path oftravel, a cigarette cut off knife mounted transversely on said knifesupporting shaft, and a drive driven from said actuating device forimparting rotary movement to said knife supporting shaft.

6. A cut off for a cigarette making machine comprising a housing, arotary shaft extending from said housing, a cut off knife mounted on theend of said shaft, a support for said housing for moving said housingand shaft in a translatory path of travel, connections between saidhousing support and said shaft to impart rotary movement to said shaftwhen said housing is moved in a translatory path of travel, a stemextending from said housing, a bearing for receiving the free end ofsaid stem, a pair of spaced parallel springs fixedly supporting saidbearing to allow said housing through said bearing to have translatorymovement while preventing said hearing from having rotary movement, ameans connecting the opposite ends of said leaf springs to a stationarypart of the cigarette making machine.

7. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a traveling cigarette rod, acut off knife for passing through the traveling cigarette rod atpredetermined intervals, a spindle supporting said knife, a stem, meansinterconnecting said spindle with said stem to maintain said spindle andsaid stem at a constant relationship to one another, a bearing in whichsaid stem is reciprocably mounted, and a pair of leaf springs connectedat one end to a fixed portion of the cigarette making machine andconnected at the other end to said bearing to maintain the axis of saidspindle in a predetermined angular relationship to the cigarette rod.

8. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a traveling cigarette rod, acut off knife for passing through the traveling cigarette rod atpredetermined intervals, a spindle supporting said knife, a stem, meansinterconnecting said spindle with said stem to maintain said spindle andsaid stem at a constant relationship to one another, a bearing in whichsaid stem is reciprocably mounted, a pair of leaf springs connected atone end to a fixed portion of the cigarette making machine and connectedat the other end to said bearing to maintain the axis of said spindle ina predetermined angular relationship to the cigarette rod, said leafsprings being of a length sufficient to make the vertical component ofmovement of the bearing negligible, a ledger plate, and a ledger plateholder connected to said bearing and receiving reciprocatory movementtherefrom.

9. A ledger support for a cigarette making machine comprising atraveling cigarette rod, a ledger positioned adjacent the path of travelof the cigarette rod, cut off knife coacting with said ledger to sever amoving cigarette rod at predetermined intervals into cigarette lengths,a drive for turning said out off knife, a cut off knife support formoving said knife back and forth along the length of said rod tofacilitate cutting said rod, a ledger holder, a pair of springssupporting said ledger holder,

and means for reciprocating said ledger holder from said cut off knifesupport.

10. A ledger support for a cigarette making machine comprising atraveling cigarette rod, a ledger positioned adjacent the path of travelof the cigarette rod, cut off knife coacting with said ledger to sever amoving cigarette rod at predetermined intervals into cigarette lengths,a drive for turning said out off knife, a cut off knife support formoving said knife back and forth along the length of said rod tofacilitate cutting said rod, a ledger holder, a pair of springssupporting said ledger holder, said springs being of such length, width,and thickness that the natural frequency of the springs and the ledgerholder is close to the operating frequency of the cut off, and means forreciprocating said ledger holder from said cut off knife support.

11. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a housing, a shaft extendingfrom said housing, a cut off knife mounted on the end of said shaft, astern mounted in said housing and extending therefrom, a pair ofparallel springs connected to a non-moving part of the cigarettemachine, means interconnecting the other end of said parallel springs tosaid stem for restricting said housing and knife-supporting shaft tomovement in a predetermined plane and a drive for simultaneouslyimparting rotary movement to said shaft and translatory movement to saidhousing.

12. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a cut off knife, a shaftsupporting said cut off knife for rotary movement, a support for saidshaft, a stem extending from said support, a pair of parallel springsconnected at one end to a stationary member, means interconnecting theother end of said springs with said stem for restricting said stern formovement in a predetermined plane to thereby restrict said knife shaftfor movement in a predetermined plane.

13. A cigarette machine cut off comprising a cut off knife, a shaft forsupporting and imparting rotary movement to said knife, a housing forsupporting said shaft for rotary movement, a stem mounted in saidhousing and projecting therefrom, a pair of parallel leaf springsconnected at one end to a fixed portion of the cigarette making machineand connected at the other end with said stem to maintain said shaft ina constant plane, and a drive for rotating said knife shaft whilesimultaneously imparting a translatory movement thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,729,436 Bronander Sept. 24, 1929 1,824,393 Chandler Sept. 22, 19311,850,050 Ruau Mar. 15, 1932 1,992,722 Smith Feb. 26, 1935 2,214,430Molins Sept. 10, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 432,785 Germany Aug. 14, 1926667,445 France June 17, 1929 349,030 Great Britain May 19, 1931 463,577Great Britain -1 Apr. 2, 1937

